Jaipur actors set to shine in entertainment industry

It was a sheer stroke of luck for the 20-something Sheetal Khandal who grabbed the role of Gehna in the popular serial “Balika Vadhu” and made her debut on the small screen. Like millions, Sheetal also nurtured dreams of acting in front of the camera, but she didn’t know that she would realise her dream of acting in a serial that she watched while she was in school.Sheetal says, “I had gone to audition for a Marwari channel,which never saw the light of the day, but as luck had it, I got a call from the production house of “Balika Vadhu” and they offered me the role of Gehna,” adding, “Though I am a happy-golucky person in real life,I play the role of a conservative girl in the serial.” While Sheetal is the latest actors from the Pink City, who has made her debut in the growing television industry, she definitely is not the only one. There are a lot of actors from Jaipur, who have made it big in the entertainment industry. Here’s a look...
Though she has done a lot of daily soaps and even hosted shows, Juhi Parmar became a household name with the popular serial “Kumkum” where she played the role of an ideal wife. After this serial, there was no looking back for this Jaipur girl. If this wasn’t enough for her fans, she was offered Season 5 of the reality show “Bigg Boss” where she had stiff competition from stars like Pooja Bedi, Shonali Nagrani, Shakti Kapoor, among others, but Juhi proved her mettle and went on to win the show.
Talking about television stars, how can we ignore Jaipur-based Rajeev Khandelwal who became every girl’s ‘knight in shining armour’ after his lover-boy role as Sujal in “Kahiin To Hoga”. Not only this, he went a notch ahead to prove his versatility both as an actor and as a host in serials like “Left Right Left’ and “Sach Ka Saamna” respectively. He even managed a successful leap from TV to films with the critically acclaimed “Aamir”, and followed it up with his cop act in “Shaitan” and as a musician in “Soundtrack”.
It was another Jaipurgirl, Smita Bansal, whose role as Sumitra in “Balika Vadhu” carried her name to the drawing rooms across India and made her the popular saas with the TV-watching audiences. Not only this, she took up the challenge of performing stunts when she participated in the reality show “Khatron Ke Khiladi”. Be it her role in “Amanat” or “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki”, Smita has made sure she is best at whatever she does.
Besides his acting, if it wasn’t for his to-die-for looks, telly heartthrob Nandish Sandhu wouldn’t have broken a million hearts when he recently got married to Rashmi Desai. Nevertheless, after doing several serials, Nandish wowed the audiences as Veer in “Uttaran”. Few know that Anup Soni is a Jaipur boy too, who has made a mark, both in films and serials. Besides daily soaps, where Anup has showed his acting prowess as a cop, comedian, lover, father and what not, Anup even established himself as a versatile actor on the silver screen with movie like “Gangaajal”, “Fiza”, “Footpath” among others.